Dan Antion

Change Orders – #SoCS

The perfect lime wedge.
My copy has arrived! Be sure to get yours.
MuMu has retreated behind the curtain.

It’s Saturday, and we are gathered at the very loud but empty looking bar. Despite the noise, we’re going to enjoy a nice cold beverage and some discussion around the subject Linda G. Hill’s Stream of Consciousness Saturday prompt,

“Your Friday prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday is ‘hope.’ Use it any way you’d like. Have fun!”

I think we can have fun, as long as we can talk above the din.

“Cheryl, I think it’s my week to pay, would you bring me a John Howell’s special and pull a cold Corona out for Dan, I think I saw him pulling in.”

“You got it, David. I’ll be right back.”

“Dan, it’s good to see you my young friend. Your beer is on order and on my tab.”

“Thanks David. It’s been a long, wet week; I’m looking forward to that beer.”

“What does your shirt say, Clemente? I know you’re a Pirates fan, but, um, well, didn’t he die about fifty years ago?”

“He did, David. That means he can’t be traded.”

“I don’t follow your logic, Dan.”

“It’s simple, David. When the Pirates have a good player, if you’re a fan, you buy a shirt and you hope the owner doesn’t trade him.”

“Greedy bas…”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa David. Family bar, remember? Here’s your bourbon, your snifter of seltzer and your glass of ice. Dan, here’s that cold Corona.”

“Thanks, Cheryl. Look, I understand the family bar thing, but we’re the only two people up here and that crowd in the lounge is drowning out anything we say.”

“That crowd, David, is a birthday party for an eight-year-old.”

“Oh. OK. Selling lots of soda today?”

“Yeah. Soda and iced tea.”

“Excuse me, miss.”

“Hang on guys, I’ll be right back. Yes Ma’am, can I help you?”

“I hope so. Will you be preparing the drinks for the tables in the lounge?”

“Yes.”

“There’s an order in there for an iced coffee. I was hoping I could slip you some cash to Irish that up a notch?”

“Haha – sure. Three dollars.”

“Here. Thanks. Keep the change and please keep this between us.”

“You got it. Thanks.”

“What was that all about, Cheryl.”

“One of the moms had a special request.”

“Looks like another mom needs your attention.”

“Thanks Dan. Hi, can I help you?”

“Um, I was wondering, hoping really… I ordered a glass of seltzer. I asked for cranberry juice, to make it unique. What would it take to put a splash of Tito’s in there?”

“Three dollars.”

“Here, keep the change.”

“Thank you. Don’t worry, I’ll keep this between us girls.”

“Thanks. I excused myself to visit the Ladies Room. Where would that be?”

“Up those stairs. Turn left after you pass the kitchen.”

“Ok.”

“Ma’am, you’re going the wrong way.”

“Oh, I don’t need to use the facilities. I just wanted to know in case anyone asks.”

“You guys doing OK?”

“We are, Cheryl. Looks like you have a pretty nice sideline going.”

“Yeah. You guys want another round? When that drink order comes in, I’m going to be busy for a while.”

“Let’s do that, Cheryl. I don’t want to get stuck behind twenty-five root beers.”

“I’ll be right back.”

“So, Dan, back to the Pirates. No hope for the future?”

“If we make it to August without losing Frazier or Reynolds for a few bucks and three minor league prospects, maybe.”

“Here you go guys. Another glass of bourbon and another Corona. Oops, and another customer on the down low. Hi, can I help you?”

“Hi, I’m with the group downstairs. I ordered a tall, iced tea with lime, instead of lemon. That ice tea is in Queens. I hope to move it a little farther out on Long Island. Can we do that?”

“Three dollars will put you in Nassau county. Five will take you into Suffolk.”

“Here’s five, but Nassau is far enough – keep the change.”

“Thanks!”

“Cheryl, I have the drink order for the lounge.”

“Thanks, Ashley, I’ll get right on it.”

“Be careful, some of those women seemed very particular.”

“Yeah, I hope I can keep it all straight.”

Note: Teagan Geneviene had some Internet issues this week. If you missed her announcement about the next Journey of “Dead of Winter,” you can find it here.

The Bee Balm is blooming and the bees approve.
The marigolds have been beat up by three days of thunderstorms, but seem to be thriving.
I went to get some takeout after the rain stopped.
I discovered this growing next to our neighbor’s trash can.
These are also thriving in the rain..
“The lights were out for a reason. Some of us are trying to sleep.”
Rain or shine, Maddie has to go outside.
Tasty corner.
There are some people who walk here using walkers (yes, including that woman) so I moved the branch out of the way.
Maddie had to sniff this for a long time before she let me move it.
I thought the reflection in the puddle would be interesting. Maddie had other thoughts.
Lots of puddles.
:I don’t think we’re going in this gate, Maddie.”
Baby bun.
Rain, rain and more rain.
This time, the leaves are covered with water.
I have no idea why they need the sprinklers. We’ve had almost five inches of rain this week!

95 comments

  1. Ha. A Long Island iced tea would be just the thing. It’s nice to visit the bar with you and the gang, Dan. I love the picture of Maddie and the puddle.
    Many thanks for the shout out and link for the latest issue of Dead of Winter.
    Cheers, and hugs on the wing.

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  2. I have to admit I laughed out loud when I got to the part about being stuck behind twenty-five root beers. A birthday party for an eight-year-old would be serious competition! Your bar seems like a great place, and your neighborhood seems like a very wet place; soon you and Maddie will need oars to get around. And sprinklers yet! Our species doesn’t always make a lot of sense.

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    • We’ve been drenched, Judy. I guess we shouldn’t complain, after last year’s drought, at least things are green. Right now, it’s the little bugs that are keeping us from sitting. I hope your garden is weathering the storms. We have more in the forecast Sun-Wed.

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  7. A mother’s ingenuity knows no bounds, especially during a birthday party for an eight year old!! Love it!

    Love the ears on baby bunny. And Maddie rinsing her paws off in the puddles! You were so thoughtful to move that fallen branch off the sidewalk. I’m sure Galloping Grandma is very grateful!!

    Unending rain here too. Overrun with mushrooms, but ours are black. When the sun does make an appearance, it is so brutally hot the plants must be cooking sitting in all that water! Sigh……

    Hope Maddie will be able to walk this weekend and has a chance to hang out on her deck.
    Ginger

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    • The sun came out yesterday afternoon, Ginger and it turned the world into a sauna. The humidity spiked at 85%

      We have lots and lots of bunnies this year, and they seem to keep cranking out babies.

      Maddie saw me trying to get a picture of that puddle. It’s like she decided, “no, it’s going to be a picture of me.”

      We didn’t walk today, buggy and I had some stuff to get to the recycling center. We will have a nice long walk tomorrow and we will sit. I hope you have a very nice weekend and that the rains hold off for a couple days.

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  8. I had to laugh out loud at the drink orders. I used to tend bar in my youth for extra money and can’t tell you how many Irish coffees I served under the guise of just coffee. Vodka and 7up was also a biggie. Thanks for the memory and laugh. Also, thanks for the link and mention. Congrats to Teagan too. Your puddle shots with Maddie are quite artful.

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  9. Mumu’s cute little paw aww such a cutie behind the curtain. Nice time at the bar today. I’d like to be an attendee at that birthday party. Long Island iced tea sounds tasty … well for a little later on maybe. Breakfast first ;)

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  10. Long Island Iced Tea….oh, it has been forever. The birthday party dialogue was so much fun–yeah, mama needs her happy juice. We had neighbors who had their sprinklers on a timer. Always cracked me up, rain or shine, their sprinklers would do their thing! The rain photos are so pretty–especially the mushrooms. They look beautiful. Happy weekend to you, Dan.

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    • It’s so funny to see the sprinklers running in the rain, Lois. It’s only ever this one. Maybe the timer kicks in before the public works crew shows up to shut them off. I’m not sure I could handle a Long Island Iced Tea these days. I’ll stick with a couple beers.

      I hope you have a great weekend.

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  11. Great story today, Dan! I enjoyed the pics as always. I never understand when the automatic sprinklers come on after rain at businesses either. Seems management would take notice and hit the off switch!

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  12. Another great story, Dan. My congratulations to Teagan. Wonderful shoutout. 💗 BTW, I adore the photo of Mumu behind the curtain. Precious!

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  14. Happy Saturday, Dan! Has the rain ended yet? Are you seeing sun today? I hope you do and I’ll try not to send any of the rain arriving this coming week out to CT. My patios (that they stupidly carpeted) haven’t dried out yet from Tuesday and Wednesday rain, so I can only imagine what it’s like in your neck of the woods.

    Sounds like a fun bar today with the moms and their code words. I’m not a mom, but you have me thinking of what I could put in a cup of coffee to make the day more exciting. A little bit of golden French pleasure in my cup? :-p

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  15. I’ve always admired waitresses and waiters who can remember multiple orders. I’d have to write them down which would not be discreet enough for these ladies. Good thing I’m not a waitress. Escaping with he Dead of Winter journeys is more my style.

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  20. This week’s visit to the bar is hilarious, Dan. You have nailed it with the school moms. Thanks for giving Teagan’s post a boost. Now that my 2 beta reads are just about done, I can get back to Teagan’s journey. I’m a bit behind.

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  21. First of all, photos. The paw extending from the curtain wins for me today without competition. Cold drinks sound so good this morning. Last night we had a thunderstorm with huge winds and a big dust storm, our first since the move. Looking out the window it looked as if it were pouring but it was all dust. We did get some rain later (thank You!!) but there was a lot of detritus to clean up this morning. That was a sweaty job. We went to the farmer’s market first and at 8 am, it had already gone over 90 degrees. Bring on the root beer!! BTW, my husband loves root beer and it’s the only pop/soft drink I ever have) so I get him craft root beer sometimes or he used to find it on bike rides. Yesterday at Aldi I got Frosty’s, only to find out it was the root beer of his youth. Lucked out there!

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  28. Dan, you gave me a good laugh with the moms. Kids can be quite the handful, especially when in a group. Loved the way you wrote this story!! As for wet, we are officially monsoon country. Rain and more rain! As you saw in my post, I only posted some of the clouds I’ve been seeing. Now that we finally have our bikes up and running, I HOPE the sun comes out soon so we can ride. However, with this leg of mine, perhaps these clouds are a good thing for I would have probably pushed it too fast in order to ride my bike. There are blessings in all situations. Have a great Sunday!! xo

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  30. Cheers to creative women and their mixed cocktails! LOL! Probably had something to do with the volume of the gathering too? Great water photos, I chuckled at the sprinkler comment. Why would you still run them with 5″ of rain in a week? Nice job on the prompt!

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  31. A comment from Cheryl who was having trouble posting here.

    “Sprinklers in the rain…yep see that often. Someone would have to take time to disable the timers on them most likely. 😏 Hey, I think I know a few of those ladies from the party! Root beer just won’t do with a roomful of excitable noisy happy kids. I went with my young grandchildren and their father to Red Robin after a park excursion once. After we were seated and the arguing between them subsided, the server got their soft drink orders and asked if I wanted a Pepsi with free refills. I looked at my watch (yep, after noon) then told her, “Thanks but Maw Maw needs a beer. Now, please. “ 😊 I’m sure the walker folks appreciate your diligence with those downed limbs. “

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  32. Cheryl is really good! She’s taking care of those mothers. 🙂 Thank goodness the torrential rain every day has finally stopped. Like you, I have bizarre mushroom thingys growing. I loved the photo old Maddie and the puddle.

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